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 7cups Approved ☕️💚  The postings on this account are my own and may not represent 7 Cups of Tea's positions, strategies, or opinions.

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https://www.7cups.com/forum/AutismSpectrumDisorderASD_91/ is my favorite forum because I’m part of its Forum Team and it’s a small community but it’s kept active with icebreakers and support posts. ASD is very misunderstood in the public and being part of something that helps increase awareness and improve understanding of it is really great.

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What is stress?

Stress is a physiological and emotional response to ‘’fear and threat’’. Stress can be good or bad, depending on how we look at it. Stress can affect our physical health, cognition, thoughts, feelings, and actions. When you are exposed to stress in the long term there may be a chance of ‘’loss of physical and mental endurance’’, which makes you lose concentration, and also have mental health issues, such as depression, anxiety, and other symptoms. At the same time, the immune system worsens, making it easy to get ill.

Stress Management

We should not aim to eliminate stress, but rather learn how to relax, using positive thinking and attitude to face various difficulties and changes in life, the feeling of stress will naturally decrease. Meditation exercises target an overactive sympathetic fight or flight response nervous system to help immediately relieve heart rate and muscle contraction. When practiced long term, they help increase parasympathetic nervous system functions, making it easier for the body to enter a relaxed state.  Sources: 

https://www.stress.org/what-is-stress

https://eocinstitute.org/meditation/meditation-relaxes-your-nervous-system/ 

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6 Things I Love About 7Cups

As a member:

7 cups is a place where I can vent about my problems to listeners that are non-judgemental and volunteer their time to help. There are plenty of listeners so there is always someone out there that understands and makes me feel less alone.

Group support! So many different chatrooms where you can talk about particular difficult situations or just hang out and talk about your interests with fellow members.

Self-help guides that improve my knowledge and expert advice on mental health issues.

As a listener:

I adore the forums there are so many different activities icebreakers learning about different coping methods support on how to be a better listener, information on mental health issues so I can support my members better

Listener chatrooms where I can receive emotional support when a chat didn’t go so well or hear suggestions from others when I’m on a 1-on-1 chat I don’t know what to do

The nonjudgemental friendly relationships I have with fellow listeners and my repeated members. They accept my flaws and also are open-minded to my opinions.

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4A Method of Stress Management

1) Avoid. This means learning how to say No, avoiding situations that make you feel stressed, controlling your surroundings so that it's not as stressful, reducing your to-do list 

 2) Alter. This means trying to express your feelings, creating a balanced timetable for yourself. Attempting to relieve the situation/carrying out agreements

3) Adapt. Rethink the situation, using different perspectives to identify the truth of the situation. Increase/use open-mindedness to look at the situation. Modify your standards a little bit. Practice gratitude.

4) Accept. Don't try to control things that are not under your powers/control. Think positively. Practice forgiveness. Accept failure/difficulties/loss. 

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7 cups expert article

Today I’m sharing the article ‘’How to let go of the need for approval’’. Let’s face it, we all like being praised by others, it feels validating. However when you’re constantly getting approval from others, it doesn’t mean that you’re not worthy or doing great things, but it can be easy to fall into the trap of thinking thoughts like ‘ I’m not good enough’, ‘I’m not smart’, ‘I’m not attractive’ etc etc. The same goes for the reverse, someone saying you’re ‘’enough’’ does not mean you should stop improving or remain stagnant in whatever you’re working on because what others say is a subjective opinion, not an objective fact, meaning it’s not necessarily true. These are my personal insights, now let’s look at the article.

Dr Cohen first begins describing the process of seeking approval, you work hard on something, you get people to like you. However this process of seeking approval  from ‘’outside sources’’ can cause problems.

When we want to please outside sources like people, we seek approval from them. When they don’t give us what we want to get we get disappointed, we set ourselves up for things we don’t really want. We don’t dare to do things we may enjoy but they would disapprove. As a result, we miss opportunities to learn how to approve ourselves even when it’s not provided by others. You may reject potential opportunities because you start fearing FAILURE from pleasing people or trying something new that you aren’t used to doing but would like to do. Therefore it’s important to analyse objectively how much ‘’seeking approval’’ impacts your wellbeing and then set a plan on how to prioritise things that are right for you!

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Song reminding me of 7cups

I choose Hurricane by Halsey because to me it’s about self-confidence, caring about and improving yourself without worrying about what others think of you

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7 cups in 6 adjectives: supportive, empathetic, non-judgemental, respectful, friendly and accepting.

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Happy belated 6th birthday 7 Cups! Here’s to more years to come and many more site improvements and a larger more united community @wehugtheinternet

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Gratitude

I’m thankful for 7 Cups because

as a member

it has allowed me to grow into a bigger, stronger person

it has provided me with ways to help myself through self-help aids and connecting with others

the patience and ability of listeners to talk things through with me and calm me down

the members for being my support buddies and we were good friends

as a listener

it has taught me how to listen actively

it has taught me empathy

it has taught me how to carry conversations

- it has made me a happier person knowing that I have made someone else’s day, and knowing that someone is in the same boat as me makes me feel less alone as well

- the listener community and subforums have provided endless support and resources for me to understand mental health better as well as acceptance and openness towards other people

Overall 7 cups has made me a better person and I am thankful for the site and its community.

[wehugtheinternet]

Comic drawn by a member in the teen community in the teen self-esteem and body imagine community!

Teens, you are all welcome to drop in the community to meet other teens and interact with them. 💜

[wehugtheinternet]

20 Powerful Affirmations to Boost Self Esteem

A 7 Cups mental health article written by Angie McCullagh

🌺What are some affirmations you say to help boost your self-esteem? 🌺

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image background inspired by blogilates not mine

[giraffewut]

if you ever feel alone, or just need someone to talk to, just message me. i know the feeling of not having anyone. so we can be lonely together. :)

[letmehelpyoudarling]

Need Advice?

I am super willing to help! This blog is devoted to helping anyone who needs it! Plus posting pretty pictures 💕

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How to take care of a friend in crisis

[Trigger Warning]

There are many suicide warning signs:

Having suicidal thoughts

Self-hatred 

Self-harm

Buy objects suspected to be used for suicide

Isolating themselves from other people

Think that life is meaningless

Talk about death with other people 

Give farewell notes to people they know

Things you can do to support a friend having these feelings:

Accept their emotions non-judgementally

Don’t leave them alone

Be empathetic

Avoid criticism or arguments

Thinking about ways to resolve this together

Being there for them

When is professional intervention necessary?

When they act on their suicidal thoughts

Have arrangements about their own death

Emotional instability

Crisis Referral http://suicide.org/suicide-hotlines.html

This post is adapted from the source https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KBJibsXD4gHK20Sf5MrBJcMEJvjdzLsG/view 

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[Trigger Warning] Hi everyone, hope everyone is coping well. I would like to share some thoughts from a message I received recently. There are sometimes when we feel very happy, sometimes we feel very down [It is a myth that suicide doesn't have warning signs. I will talk about them in a later post]. When we feel the latter, negative feelings from many different thoughts can bubble up causing to feel confused and result in feeling lost and powerless. The response to that may be suicide idealation, as it appears to be a way to present those feelings. If anyone is going through a hard time like that please write me. You are not alone and we can work things out together. Crisis Referral http://suicide.org/suicide-hotlines.html

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To a person...

Thank you for being there for me when I’m feeling down

Thank you for checking up on me even when I didn’t mention that I need help

Thank you for supporting my beliefs and/or willing to discuss issues with me openly

Thank you for studying with me

Thank you for being mindful and considerate of my schedule

Thank you for staying open and willing to communicate when we have our mishaps

Thank you for being my friend

❤